Of Sneak Attacks And Tally Marks
by ScribeOfRhapsody
Summary: "I also admit having you lot around keeps me on my toes." In which Kurasame issues the class a homework assignment that spirals into a week of mayhem around Akademia. Not quite crack, just insane. Hints of one-sided Sice/Kurasame.
1. Day 1

**Welcome, my friends, to this story of mayhem and not-quite crack. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

"Sice, wake up and tell me the capital of Concorida."

It wasn't often easy to detect emotions from Commander Kurasame. Even if his face wasn't half-covered by an actual mask all the time, Queen doubted they'd be able to see past the one he'd carefully weaved into his skin. His tone did little to enlighten them either, as he'd somehow managed to find a perfect balance between professional and _pay-attention-or-I'll-reap-your-soul_.

That being said, the more time the class spent under his leadership, the more easily Queen was able to read the subtle eye-twitches that signified his certain moods. At this moment in time, he was… miffed. Not that any of the others would notice, but he was definitely miffed, and Queen knew why: he was used to Nine and Jack's antics during class, but Sice was another matter. To be honest, Queen herself was a bit surprised by Sice's lack of attention, considering the _abundant_ amount of attention she usually gave their commander in class. And during practice. And when she hovered around the Command Center whenever he was there.

"What's the point of keeping my eyes open when I could answer these questions in my sleep? It's Mahamayuri."

Or maybe this was just Sice's odd way of trying to impress their commander.

A snicker from Eight echoed across the room. "I owe you an apology, Sice. You're a lot smarter than you look."

Queen placed her pen across her paper. Now that the insults were flying, she doubted the commander would be saying anything she could take notes about for the next few minutes of class.

Instead of Sice, however, the retaliation came from Jack. "You surprised me, too, Eight. I mean, given how puny you are, I expected you to punch like a ten-year-old."

And of course that would set off Eight's utter and eternal loathing of insults about his height…

"Mention my height again and I'll show you firsthand just how strong I am." Eight glared daggers so sharp at Jack that Queen doubted his katana would able to compare.

"Enough," the commander interrupted calmly, the balance in his voice unaffected by the others' attitudes. "I am concluding class early today." Before the cheers from the less serious members of the class could arise, Kurasame held up his hand. "You may use the additional time to work on the assignment I am about to give you."

"Sweeeet!" Cater sat up straight in her chair for once. "More Kill Shots? See how long we can last in the Arena? Test our–"

"No." The commander barely spared her a glance. "This assignment will be textbook related."

The excitement draining from the room was audible in the form of several different groans.

" _Textbook_ assignments? What a waste of time, yo! Thought you were supposed to be our combat instructor, not librarily!"

"I believe the word you are looking for is _literary_ , Nine," Trey corrected, as though Nine would actually listen or care. "And the commander has been assigned to continue several areas of our education, including that of combat, literature, strategic analysis–"

Trey barely vacated his chair in time to avoid the book that had been lobed at his head.

" _Cadet._ " The balance tipped slightly towards _reap-your-soul_ as the commander zeroed his gaze in on Nine. "This is a classroom, not a battle or training ground. I expect you to treat it as such."

Queen couldn't help but wonder if he would have cared had someone else thrown a book at _Nine_. Probably. Just not as much.

"Yeah, well, apparently you don't want us to learn anything about fighting at all! You'd rather us read a book, yo!"

Queen almost missed the unique twitch Kurasame reserved especially for Nine. Uh-oh. She could only see that when Nine had _really_ pushed him. Something was simmering in the commander's eyes now, and Queen wasn't entirely sure she liked the looks of it.

"Very well, Cadet." The commander turned away from his desk, snatching a piece of chalk. "If you wish for a combat assignment, you shall receive one." The chalk was scratching quickly across the board, and Queen could just make out _Ace_ and _Deuce_ at the top. Writing their names, then. But for what purpose?

"All right!" Nine crowed, completely unaware to the fact that he'd probably unleashed something terrible on all of them.

"You all have one week, starting today and ending at the end of this class next week, to land an attack on a particular target." He finished off Rem's name at the bottom of the list and swiveled around face them, setting the chalk back down on his desk. "Myself."

Silence fell across the room for a few moments, and Queen was sure they were all remembering his first day when he had taken out Nine, Cater, and Ace in a less-than-five-second battle about a minute after they'd met him.

"A week?" Nine finally piped up again, a grin on his face. "Ha! Who needs a week, yo?" His spear appeared in a flash of light, and he lunged into the air.

Queen sighed. How many times had the commander seen him use his Jump ability? Did he honestly believe that was going to work? Sadly… he probably did.

Kurasame didn't even dodge as Nine dropped towards him. He just held his hand up and sent Nine flying backwards with his arms flailing out to the sides.

…Right into the chair between Machina and Ace.

Ace vanished, reappearing in the chair behind him before Nine's fist could slam into his face. Machina – who wasn't fortunate enough to have teleportation among his abilities – resorted to diving under his desk to avoid the sharp end of a spear.

Kurasame plucked up his chalk again and drew a tally mark next to Nine's name. "This board will keep count of your failed efforts." He turned back to them. "Now, unless the rest of you would also like to attempt a futile, unplanned attack, I recommend you gather your books and take the time to compose a real strategy. Should any of you succeed, I will free the entire class from all homework for the next month. Class dismissed."

* * *

"Oh, you gotta try, man!"

Machina shrugged Jack's hand off his shoulder. "No."

"Come on, Machyyy!" Cinque's voice took on that absurdly high pitch only she was capable of. "Why won't you help us?"

"Because I want to live?" Where was Rem? Maybe she could pretend to need him for something. Wait, no… she was a terrible liar, so that would never work.

"Oh, please! Old grate-face isn't gonna kill us." Cater flipped her gun in the air and placed it back in its holster. "Just help us out here!"

Machina eyed the portal of the Ready Room. It wasn't far… maybe if he sprinted, he could escape. "I… I just want to be left out of this." Attacking a clearly superior fighter that was also his commanding officer was _not_ his idea of fun.

"Well, _tough_." Cater leaned in, invading his personal space.

 _Help me_.

* * *

"It's _fascinating_ , really, the _incredible_ amount of detail in…"

After being friends for so long, Kurasame had learned how to tune out most of Kazusa's scientific rambling while still picking up on the key parts. Today's topic was something about the bone structure of his students.

Speaking of his students… as he and Kazusa exited the lab, he spotted one of them on the opposite side of the Crystarium. Trey stood next to the railing on his side, his nose in a book. As they passed him, he glanced up and gave courteous nod, even making eye contact.

No intentions of trying to shoot him, then. He thought not. Trey wouldn't try anything this soon, or that obvious. He was more the type to plan out every signal detail he could and wait for a particular type of opening he could exploit. He may have been a self-confident know-it-all at times, but he at least had the skills and intellect to back it up.

"The density, of course, is another matter entirely, but I suspect…"

The two of them crossed into the main stretch leading to the door of the Crystarium, and the door opened before they got close. The Class Third cadet entering the room triggered a spark of recognition in the back of Kurasame's mind. Yobatz was the name, if he recalled correctly. Quon Yobatz.

Quon spotted them and started to stand aside so they could pass, but he was suddenly knocked out of the way by a redhead barreling straight at them.

And so it began.

Even before Eight leaped into his attack, Kurasame caught the tell-tale sign of his Swiftwind Stance and easily stepped to the side. Kazusa, although a scientist, was still best friends with two leading instructors at Akademia and had enough reflexes to dodge the opposite way, which left Eight to slide between the two of them and plow into one of the bookshelves.

"Ow!" he yelled as three different books fell on top of him.

"By the Crystal, _what are you doing?_ " Quon demanded, the only one in the Crystarium able to find his voice. Even Trey was staring, although he seemed more entertained than bothered by the disruption.

Kazusa arched an eyebrow over the frames of his glasses. "Student revolt or homework?"

"Homework." Kurasame resumed walking. He had another tally mark to add to the board.

* * *

 **So, there's the first chapter. Please let me know what you think! :)**


	2. Day 2

—

 **Ace:**

 **Deuce:**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater:**

 **Cinque:**

 **Sice:**

 **Seven:**

 **Eight: I**

 **Nine: III**

 **Jack:**

 **Queen:**

 **King:**

 **Machina:**

 **Rem:**

Now was her chance. While old grate-face was busy jotting down Nine's third attempt in less than thirty-six hours, Cater would make her move. It was before everyone would start showing up in the classroom, so he wouldn't be expecting anyone to bother him.

Quietly, Cater crept in through the side door to the classroom, her pistol ready. There he was… at the chalkboard. She held her breath as she took her aim–

" _Graarraaahhhaaarrrr._ "

* * *

Kurasame grabbed his chalk for the fourth time since his challenge had started, moving up to the board to mark down yet another of Nine's entirely predictable and ineffective attempts. Teaching strategy to that child was like repeatedly stabbing himself in the foot.

Oh. And there was another one. One _attempting_ to sneak up on him from the side door of the classroom. He reached out to finish marking Nine's attempt before he took care of this new "threat."

A familiar yet rare growl reached his ears, and–

" _Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!_ "

A cry so loud and so shrill it caused his hand to jerk, scratching an arch of chalk halfway across the board with an unpleasant _shriek_ as a blast of magic slammed into the ceiling above him. Kurasame snapped his head around to find Cater with her hand over her heart… and Tonberry at her feet with his rather large knife pointed at her.

"What the heck is wrong with you, _you_ … _you green little pipsqueak?_ " Cater bellowed at him. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Kurasame cleared his throat. No one insulted Tonberry, especially not one of his own students.

Cater froze, looking up at him. "I… um… hehe…"

She bolted back out the door.

* * *

"Class dismissed."

Well… they'd made it through a full class with no attempts. This might have been the most peace he'd had since the challenge started. He eyed them all carefully as they began to filter out the door, and he couldn't help but notice that Sice was hovering around her desk. Very well. Best he handle this quickly before his classroom received more damage.

She was fidgeting. Sice was not one of the students that fidgeted.

He waited patiently.

She finally looked at him. "I…" She froze, her face taking on a rather dark shade of red… and then she ran out the door.

Kurasame blinked. What in Orience had just happened? Would that even count as a tally by her name? He'd think about it.

He made for the door himself, Tonberry following close at his heels. He'd only just crossed the boundaries between rooms when he felt the crack of electricity in the air. He darted to the side, hauling Tonberry to safety by his collar as a Thunder ROK exploded behind him.

A feminine war cry alerted him to which of his students was attacking, and he summoned his blade, intercepting the thinner one that was trying to draw his blood. One quick twist of his sword around the other sent the attacker's blade clattering to the floor.

Kurasame held his sword to his opponent's throat. "Queen. I admit, I was not expecting this from _you._ " She was one of the precious few who _liked_ his textbook assignments. Or so he thought.

She adjusted her glasses, unbothered by her position at sword point. "You issued me a challenge as my commanding officer."

"Indeed." That was more like her.

* * *

Sice wasn't generally the type to hang out in the Ready Room on a regular basis, and especially not with her head on the counter, so Seven knew something was up with her classmate as soon as she stepped in the room. She took a seat next to the other silverette. "What happened with the commander?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Sice growled.

"I take it your charm-then-attack plan didn't go well?" Well, that wasn't exactly a surprise. Fake charming generally only worked when the person doing the charming kept it… fake.

Despite Sice's colder exterior, it was pretty obvious she had a soft spot for Kurasame. Seven wondered just how badly her plan went to make her act like this.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. About. It."

Pretty bad, apparently.

* * *

"–and I expect them to have it done by their next mission!"

"Of course, Commandant. I will inform them immediately." Kurasame bowed his head in acknowledgement and turned to exit the Command Center.

Yet another pointless assignment for Class Zero from the Commandant, who was oh-so-subtly hoping they wouldn't come back. His hatred of Dr. Arecia was apparently so strong that he'd forgotten who was winning this war for him. And he continued to underestimate Class Zero. As though such simple tasks as the ones he provided would result in their demises.

Kurasame pushed open one of the double doors. Probably about time for another of Nine's attacks…

Oh… or not.

Kurasame bent into a backwards duck and spun in a full three-sixty to avoid the pitifully slow mace heading for his chest. He kept walking after that, not bothering to check for a follow-up attack. Speed was not Cinque's area of expertise by any means.

He winced slightly as he heard the mace connect with the side of the double doors he hadn't used. That was definitely going to need repair.

" _Cadet!_ " the Commandant bellowed in his more grating than intimidating voice. "What in the name of the Crystal are you doing?"

Best he watch his tone. If the Commandant made Cinque cry, he'd have thirteen other angry teenagers with an array of weapons after his head.

" _Raaggggggghhh!_ "

Kurasame let out a quiet sigh, stepping toward the wall-side of the stairs as Nine blew past him. He may or not have also stuck his foot out to trip the blond.

Kurasame snagged the spear out of the air as Nine tumbled down the stairs in two complete summersaults before flopping onto ground level. Kurasame calmly continued to the bottom and dropped the spear next to its owner.

"For future reference, Cadet, unnecessarily loud and exaggerated war-cries do not aid in areas of stealth."

—


	3. Day 3

—

 **Ace:**

 **Deuce:**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater: I**

 **Cinque: I**

 **Sice: I**

 **Seven:**

 **Eight: I**

 **Nine:** **IIII** **III**

 **Jack:**

 **Queen: I**

 **King:**

 **Machina:**

 **Rem:**

When Kurasame entered the classroom on the third day of his challenge, he had yet to be attacked since he'd awoken that morning. Which was why he expected one any moment.

But no… no signs of an ambush. Just one student engrossed in the book on his desk – something that would have been a warning sign were it anyone else, but that was normal for Trey. Although… Trey didn't normally beat _him_ to class.

Kurasame paused, raising a questioning eyebrow at the blond.

Trey looked up, meeting his gaze for a moment before supplying, "As entertaining as witnessing all of their ill-planned and poorly executed strategies is, I rather enjoy the textbook assignments we're awarded. You have no cause to worry about dodging arrows."

 _Awarded._ Of course that's how Trey would see his homework. Very well. Moving on.

Kurasame waited until all the other students had arrived to start jotting down the tally marks from the day before. Perhaps that would help further ingrain the failures into their heads.

He hesitated when he got to Sice's name. Was that even worth counting as an attempt? He glanced over his shoulder at her, and she sank lower into her chair. Well, she'd been planning _something_ that didn't work out. He added the tally, but didn't make any comments to any of them about their statuses. He really didn't need to. The board would speak for itself.

* * *

Machina's leg vibrated up and down as he stared intently at their instructor, waiting for the right moment. He didn't want to do this. He couldn't believe he'd _let_ the others talk him into this. But now they were all expecting him to make a move, and all he could do was hope Kurasame hadn't noticed the torrent of sweat flowing down his neck.

 _Come on._ He just needed an opening…

 _There!_ Kurasame had turned his back to write something on the board – the half that didn't have tally marks, that was.

Machina shoved his chair back and vaulted over his desk, summoning his rapiers as–

Kurasame stopped him in his tracks with a steely glare. "Did you have a question, Cadet?" He didn't even look back at the board as he filled in a tally mark next to Machina's name.

Machina's rapiers disappeared. "Um… no, sir…" He shuffled back to his seat, his face boiling with his embarrassment.

From the back of the room, Nine snorted. "Smooth, hey."

Cater barked out a laugh. "Oh, you're the one to talk! You have _how many_ attempts now?"

Nine shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "I dunno… like, seven?"

Machina glanced at the board, and he could have sworn he saw Kurasame's eyes roll a second later. "It would appear I'll be needing to add simple addition to your homework after this."

"Hey! It ain't over yet!" Nine protested, apparently still holding to the illusion that one of them might succeed and rid them all of after-class work.

"Yeah!" Cater crossed her arms. "We still got plenty of time!"

Machina dropped his head to his desk. Hopeless. They were hopeless. He just hoped none of the others had roped Rem into this too…

* * *

Kurasame tossed Nine's spear after him and pulled the door shut. Couldn't the boy come up with something more original than charging at him like an enraged behemoth? At this rate, Kurasame was going to have more total time with that spear in his hands than its owner.

* * *

Ace swallowed, not making any sudden movements as he spotted the commander heading in his direction down the hall. There was no way the commander hadn't spotted him in return, so he kept walking very calmly.

"Cadet," Kurasame acknowledged with a nod of his head as they passed each other.

"Commander," Ace returned. Now their backs were turned. This could be the chance none of the others had gotten. His hand crept towards his bag of playing cards as he turned–

"I _heard_ you think about that."

…Or not. The commander hadn't even spared him a glance.

* * *

"This isn't working. We've got to come up with a better strategy." Seven took a sip of her drink before setting it back on the table.

There were nods from the eight others at the table: Deuce, Sice, Jack, Rem, Eight, Machina, Cater, and Ace. Trey and King were at a different table across the room.

"But how?" Deuce asked. "The commander has so much more experience than us!"

"Soooooo, we even the odds, then!" Jack grinned.

"How would we do that?" Eight leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.

"Double-team, baby!" Jack fist-pumped.

Seven frowned. "Is that allowed?"

"Heh. I don't remember there being any rules set," Sice said.

Machina groaned. "Count me out." He pushed his chair back and left the table.

"Wuss!" Cater yelled.

"Cater!" Seven hissed. "Give him a break. He tried already."

"I'd… better go after him." Rem tossed them a smile before jogging to catch up with her boyfr– _ahem_ , 'friend.'

Sice cleared her throat. "So, what's the new plan?"

* * *

Trey passed the commander yet again as he exited the Crystarium. What an enjoyable person Quon was. They'd just had a lovely discussion on–

" _Raaaaagghhhhh!_ "

* * *

When Kurasame paused to let his student go first out of the Crystarium, he was simply trying to keep an eye on him. He was not expecting said student to drop like a sack of flan when the dull end of a spear nailed him in the head.

"Oh, shoot! Trey! Are you okay, hey?"

Trust Nine not to know when someone was unconscious.

Kurasame darted forward, quickly snatching Nine's spear away to toss it on the floor as he crouched next to his fallen student, rolling him over. "Cadet?"

There was a thin line of blood near his temple, and Kurasame held his hand up, releasing a small healing spell around the area.

Trey groaned, coming to almost instantly. He blinked drearily. "Commander? What happened?"

"You, uh, ran into the door, yo?" Nine suggested.

Trey scowled. "I did no such thing. That is absurd."

"Apparently your classmate finds us difficult to tell apart." Kurasame offered his hand to the archer, helping him up.

"You struck me with your spear?" Once back on his feet, Trey touched the bloody spot on his head. "Has all reasoning left you?"

Kurasame wondered how it had taken Trey of all people this long to figure that out.

—


	4. Day 4

—

 **Ace: I**

 **Deuce:**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater: I**

 **Cinque: I**

 **Sice: I**

 **Seven:**

 **Eight: I**

 **Nine:** **IIII** **IIII IIII I**

 **Jack:**

 **Queen: I**

 **King:**

 **Machina: I**

 **Rem:**

It was one of those occasional mornings when the commander had a meeting prior to class, thus meaning that his students would beat him to class. Queen was accustomed to being the first or second to the classroom on those days. She was not accustomed to finding Trey picking at Ace's seat with a pair of tweezers.

"Trey, what _are_ you doing?"

Trey placed a strand of hair into the bag he was holding and gave a slight smile, rubbing his forehead gently with his free hand. "Merely attempting to keep our classroom clean."

This was strange, even for Trey. Usually, she of all people could see sense in his ramblings. Here, she had nothing. The classroom was regularly cleaned.

She shook her head and took her seat. She couldn't help but notice that the hair had already been removed from her chair.

* * *

Something was off about class today. Their lesson had only started five minutes ago, but he could still feel it.

Kurasame did not pace while he taught. Ace had never noticed before, but now that the commander was doing it, he noticed that he never had in the past. And then there was Trey. Trey always had sharp posture, but right now he was laying his head on his arm. That just didn't happen.

And that wasn't all. Something else was just… different. Ace glanced around from classmate to classmate until he met Machina's eyes.

 _Eight,_ Machina mouthed, his eyes flickering briefly to the empty seat where the redhead should have been. He shrugged after that.

 _Oh._ That was it. Perhaps the commander hadn't noticed either. Ace raised his hand.

Kurasame paused his lecture. "Yes, Cadet?"

"Sir, we appear to be missing someone."

"Are we?" Kurasame gave his desk a pointed glare.

A sigh rattled from behind the desk and Eight stood up, trudging back to his seat. "Thanks, Ace."

"Eight, I do believe the commander knew you were there the entire time," Trey muttered from his position. "He never stands in front of his desk."

"And you never use your arm for a pillow." Eight plopped into his seat. "What's the deal?"

"A book!" Nine blurted out. "Yeah! He was in the Crystarium and, uh… a book fell from one of the higher shelves! Hit him right in th– _Ah!_ " Nine fell off the back of his chair as an arrow flew by his head.

"Apologies." Trey lowered his bow. "I mistook you for the commander. Fortunately, my head is causing me too much pain for me to aim properly."

"Whhhhaaaa?" Cinque tilted her head. "Treyyyy, how could you do that? They look nothing alike."

A short, high-pitched laugh was cut off as the small, orderly girl clapped a hand over her mouth. Ace was pretty sure that was the most sound he'd ever heard from her.

No one said anything after that. There really were no words.

After a few moments of silence, Kurasame continued his lecture as usual.

* * *

"I've been hearing some very interesting rumors regarding your students lately," Emina noted, one leg crossed over the other as she sat on one of the Terrace benches. "Some people are saying that they're raging a war against you. And then I heard that one of them tried to kill another of his classmates. What ever are you doing with those children?"

"I am merely preforming my duty as their instructor. If those observing feel the need to greatly exaggerate what they see, I am not responsible."

Emina chuckled. "Yes… I'm sure they have no grounds for those stories at all." Her gaze flickered over his shoulder to the "threat" that he already knew was there.

Kurasame summoned his sword, slicing three cards out of the air. Ace vanished from the doorway to the Terrace, reappearing near the balcony with more cards in hand. It was a good strategic move in a battle against opponents that weren't familiar with his style, but rather predictable to someone who was. Kurasame sent a blast of ice carelessly over his shoulder as he sliced the last card from the air.

Ace was thrown over the balcony of the Terrace. Had it been any other student, that might have been concerning, but since it was Ace, Kurasame watched with a fair amount of amusement as he disappeared in mid-air and reappeared a foot from the ground to plop onto his backside.

"What ever are you insinuating, Emina?"

* * *

Deuce was not the class' best at stealth. In fact, other than Nine and Sice, she might have been the worst. Her knuckles were pale as clutched her flute, standing half-way up the stairs in the main room. She was even staring right at him.

He took it back. At least Nine _attempted_ to try and surprise him.

Kurasame kept walking, making note of the set of footsteps behind him that were attempting to match his own.

Finally. They'd figured out that they didn't have to work alone. The footsteps behind him picked up their pace, and Kurasame readied his magic, turning just as Deuce pressed her flute to her lips. Given the speed of Deuce's attacks, he could–

The warmth of enhanced magic rushed through his system, and ice shot from his hand before he meant to release it, freezing Sice's feet to the floor.

Wait… Deuce's _attacks_ weren't that fast, but her ability to help her allies was.

"Deuce!" Sice shrieked. "What are helping _him_ for?" She hurled her scythe at Kurasame, and he deflected the object away to where it buried itself into a wall.

"I-I'm sorry!" Deuce looked on the verge of tears. "I just couldn't see him as an enemy!"

Unbelievable. He wondered what else they'd come up with tomorrow.


	5. Day 5

—

 **Ace: II**

 **Deuce: I**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater: I**

 **Cinque: I**

 **Sice: II**

 **Seven:**

 **Eight: II**

 **Nine:** **IIII** **IIII IIII IIII IIII**

 **Jack:**

 **Queen: I**

 **King:**

 **Machina: I**

 **Rem:**

It was oddly quiet today. After four days of his challenge, Kurasame wasn't sure what to expect on Class Zero's day off. Of course, Nine had already launched another two unsuccessful attacks, but so far, none of the other students had tried anything.

So, the question was… were they taking a break, or planning something?

* * *

"C'mon, yo! You guys aren't gonna try anything? That's a waste of our days left!"

Seven rubbed her temples. She was really getting tired of Nine's whining. She actually did have plans for today, but she didn't trust him to keep his mouth shut and not give it away.

" _Nine!_ If you do not shut up, I am going to kick your kneecap in and shoot you in the face!" Cater glared daggers at him. "This is our day off. If you want to waste it with more failed attempts, be my guest. Just leave the rest of us alone!" Her grip on her cup was so tight she was probably close to shattering it. Eight laid a hand on her shoulder, and she released a breath before letting go of her glass.

Seconds passed, and it looked like Nine finally got the message, because he shoved away from his chair and stalked off towards the teleporter.

"My thanks, Cater," Trey mumbled, his head where it had been for the last two days: on his arm-pillow.

Poor Trey. Seven might have wanted to punch him sometimes for being a know-it-all that wouldn't shut up, but he hardly deserved Nine clubbing him on the head. Good thing the commander had gotten to him quickly with that Cure, or it would have been even worse.

Nine was still claiming that a book fell on Trey's head. Eight was quick to point out that he'd had three books fall on his head and he felt fine. Suffice it to say, none of them were buying Nine's story, especially Cinque, who refused to speak to the "huge traitorous meanie" who was "trying to kill her only hope of passing their classes." That had actually solved a mystery for Seven, who had been wondering how the girl who'd thought she'd gotten a ninety-nine on her last test because she had the paper upside-down had been getting grades as high as sixty-sixty. Apparently, Trey's ramblings had gotten through to _someone_ , even if only to bring Cinque's grades above Nine's.

"Heeeeey." Jack sat down in the seat next to Seven, drawing her attention. "Hokay, the commander's headed to the Command Center. Now if we hurryyyy, we may be able to catch him."

Seven nodded. "Nine just left. Maybe we can use his attack as a distraction."

"Could work!" Jack grinned. "Let's get to it!"

* * *

"Don't bother," Kurasame said as he pushed open the door of the Command Center, knowing the Nine was waiting on the other side. He'd tried to ambush him here at least six times now, and always from the same place right outside the door.

Nine growled and swung his spear around anyway, which Kurasame ducked under with little effort. Nine swung again, and Kurasame latched onto the spear and kicked Nine back before planting the spear into the floor and freezing it there.

As there was nothing more the blond could do without his weapon, Kurasame started to walk away. He didn't fail to notice the crimson cape-wearing student on the balcony above him. Clever. Using one of Nine's failed attempts to distract him while she launched her own. Or… their own.

Kurasame stepped back as Jack dropped onto the stairs from another part of the upper level. His katana was in hand as he sported a cocky grin. The clatter of Seven's chain-whip reached Kurasame's ears, and he twisted around, hand snagging weapon before he yanked on it. There was a yelp as he pulled Seven from the balcony and ducked, sending her plowing into Jack. The two of them rolled the rest of the way down the stairs, ending up in a tangled, weaponless mess at the bottom. Kurasame was only too happy to add Nine to the pile when he tried to punch him from behind.

"Well planned, but not aptly executed, cadets," Kurasame said as he stepped over them. Strategic planning against higher leveled opponents. Yes… that was the homework he was giving them when this was all over. Just a few more days.

* * *

A rather battered Seven, Jack, and Nine all plopped down into chairs in the Ready Room, wincing and groaning as they did so.

"I take it your efforts did not pay off?" Trey inquired. His headache had finally died down enough for him to stop ignoring his classmates.

"Oh, shut up, Trey."

…Not that they cared.


	6. Day 6

—

 **Ace: II**

 **Deuce: I**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater: I**

 **Cinque: I**

 **Sice: II**

 **Seven: I**

 **Eight: II**

 **Nine:** **IIII** **IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII**

 **Jack: I**

 **Queen: I**

 **King:**

 **Machina: I**

 **Rem:**

"Uuuuuuuuugggghhhhh!" Cater wailed in dismay as she gawked at the chalkboard. They were running out of time. _No homework._ The words echoed in her head. That would be so nice. It was within their reach! Just one of them. That's all they needed to get through old grate-face's defenses. Just. _One_.

She'd already given up hope on Nine fulfilling their task, but, then again, she'd never really had any in the first place. Who actually had a shot? Queen wouldn't try again. Something about "accepting the fact that she'd failed the assignment and moving on," but Cater was pretty sure she just didn't want any more tallies on her pristine record. After all, whether she admitted it or not, Queen did get competitive with Trey at times, and right now he, King, and Rem had them all beat.

"Must you make such loud, unintelligible noises? There are those of us who would like to use this time to study–"

" _Shut up_ , Trey!" Cater snapped.

Trey fell silent, going back to his book. It was a testament to how many times he'd been told those words that he never seemed to take offense at them.

The side doors to the room creaked open. "Now, let's begin."

Cater's gun appeared in her hand and she whipped it over the desk, firing shots at the commander. Yeah, it was desperate, but not even she knew she was going to act until that moment, so maybe it really would be a surprise.

…Or not, since he just threw up a Wall that rendered her attack inert. He moved on to his desk and added a tally mark next to her name.

"Well, that was rather ineffective," King commented.

Cater glared at him. "I don't see you trying anything!"

King stared at her, then cocked his head, and then pulled out one of his own guns. It was too slow to possibly be an attempt at surprise, and he… half-heartedly threw the gun across the room.

Kurasame blinked as he caught the gun, confusion actually visible on his face for the briefest moment.

King crossed his arms. "I tried."

Cater groaned, burying her head in her hands. When there was no berating from the commander, she looked up again.

Kurasame didn't seem to care about their antics at the moment, and he hadn't marked King's "attempt" down. No… his eyes were scanning the rest of the classroom.

* * *

If yesterday had seemed quiet, then today was completely soundless. This was the first day since the challenge had begun that Nine hadn't attacked by the time Kurasame entered the classroom. It was odd. Yesterday, he'd had two attacks by this time.

Distracted as he was, he was still paying enough attention to cast Wall when Cater tried to shoot him. And to catch the gun King _threw_ at him for some reason.

Still. No attack from the boy he was expecting.

…And that was because Nine wasn't around. The spot on top of his chair was vacant, and this wasn't like Eight hiding behind his desk. The blond was not in the classroom.

"Cadets. We appear to be one short."

Heads snapped around, all of them searching for the missing member of the class.

"Who saw Nine last?" Queen asked.

Machina held up his hand. "He ran by me on my way here. I figured he was on his way to try and ambush _you_." He nodded at Kurasame.

"Where was this?" Something was going on here. No matter how much of a slacker he was, he didn't just skip class.

"Near the Crystarium."

…And there it was. Kurasame headed for the main doors. "Read pages eighty-three through ninety. I will return shortly."

"But… Commander, where are you going?" Seven questioned.

"To perform a rescue mission."

* * *

"I don't see what the big deal is! The kid'll be fiiiine. I told you before, I don't use drugs on them that are as strong as I what I've used on you–"

"Kazusa." Kurasame stared at his old friend as a hint of irritation layered his voice. "Up until this point, I have been rather lenient on letting you subject my students to your scientific explorations. I do not, however, condone you knocking them unconscious during class hours."

Kazusa held his hands up. "Okay, okay… I'm sorry. But the drug's not going to wear off enough for him to walk back to class before it's over."

Kurasame turned on his heel, heading for the lab's exit. "I expect him back in my classroom in ten minutes."

"…Did you not just hear me?"

Kurasame shot him a look as he stepped out the sliding door. "You got him in here. Get him out."

Around eight minutes after Kurasame returned to his other students, Kazusa pushed a very dazed-looking Nine into the room in a rolling chair.

Somehow, Kurasame doubted anyone was getting very much out of this class period.

Especially when Nine kept shouting out random color names as he pointed at things the rest of them couldn't see.

* * *

" _Purple!_ " Nine shot up straight in his chair, blinking spastically. He groaned a second later, rubbing his head.

Jack grinned. Karma for hitting Trey, maybe? "Heeeey. Welcome back!"

Nine looked around classroom. "Ughh… what happened, yo?"

"Guess nobody warned you about Kazusa, huh?"

Nine scowled. "That purple-haired science freak?"

"Ye _p_." Jack popped the _p_. "Been in his lab myself. You're lucky the commander pulled you out."

" _The commander!_ " Nine jumped up from his chair. "Next attack's due, yo!"

With that, he tore out of the classroom, staggering as he did so.

Jack shook his head, chuckling. Yeah, he was definitely going to get a hit on the commander when he couldn't walk in a straight line.


	7. Day 7

—

 **Ace: II**

 **Deuce: I**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater: II**

 **Cinque: I**

 **Sice: II**

 **Seven: I**

 **Eight: II**

 **Nine:** **IIII** **IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII II**

 **Jack: I**

 **Queen: I**

 **King: I**

 **Machina: I**

 **Rem:**

The last day. They only had until the end of class tomorrow to come up with something, but no one had any ideas. They were supposed to be coming up with a plan, but right now all they were doing was sitting in the Ready Room silently.

All except Trey and Nine, that was. Nine was probably off on another attempt, and while Trey was in the room, he was reading instead of thinking.

Seven sighed. "Come on, Trey. It's your job to look for weak spots. Can't you help us out here?"

Trey turned his page, not looking up. "You assume the commander _has_ weak spots to exploit."

" _Everybody_ has weak spots," Eight pointed out.

"True." Trey placed a bookmark in his book and set it on the table. "But not every opponent is weak enough for those of our level of skill to use them. Conventional attacks from you appear to have no effect. Thus, you must adapt if you wish to succeed. For example, although Sice's first attempt was a failure due to her emotional inability to go through with it, it was the most original and–"

"You can stop _right there_ or die," Sice hissed, jabbing her fork in his direction.

Trey fell silent.

It was then that Nine staggered out from the portal, heading for their table.

Cater snorted. "Wow. Commander must have gotten you good this time."

"Nooope. I don't think so." Jack smirked. "That's not a someone-hit-me stagger, that's a Kazusa-drugged-me stagger."

Ace rose silently from the table and walked over to the bar.

"Wait, _again?_ Didn't he just abduct you yesterday?" Cater cocked her head to the side and Nine plopped into an empty chair.

"Hmm, it is likely that since the commander interrupted him yesterday that he wanted to finish his examination. Therefore, he drugged Nine _after_ class today to avoid–"

"Trey, shut up."

Ace returned from the bar with a cup in hand that he placed in front of Nine. "Here. I've found this helps with the aftereffects of whatever drug he uses."

"Ooooooooh, does someone have a headache?" A green-haired woman strolled up to their table, drawing their attention. "I have something that could take care of that!"

"Yeah? And how many body parts would we have to trade for it, Carla?" Seven snorted.

"Body parts?" Carla placed her hands on her hips. "Pfffft, no, no, no, no! I'm not Kazusa. I only accept gil. In this case, 120,000 of it."

"Carla, no one here but you _has_ that much gil."

"I've got it!" Nine slammed his fist on the table and bolted from his chair.

The others watched as he serpentine ran-staggered back to the teleporter.

"That can't end well," King commented.

* * *

It was about a half hour later when Nine returned, walking in a slightly straighter line as he strolled up to his chair and sat down with a huge grin on his face. "There! I challenged him to a fight in the Arena, hey!"

The utter silence that fell on the table rippled across the room until everyone was staring at him.

"…You're an _idiot_ ," Sice said finally. She sat back and crossed her arms. "When's the fight?"

* * *

It was just before sunset when the entirety of Class Zero met at the Arena. Seven would have been lying if she'd said she wasn't there just to see Nine's failure first hand. She wondered if he'd actually try again after how badly he was about to get thrashed. Probably.

Nine whipped his staff around, warming up. "Stealth has never been my thing, hey. Time for a real fight!"

"He's going to die," Sice commented in a factual voice.

Kurasame entered the Arena with the confidence he always carried, moving to the center before he faced Nine. "When you're ready, Cadet."

The others drifted to the side of the Arena, giving the two of them room. Nine swung his spear into attack position. Kurasame folded his arms behind his back.

Nine sprung forward, swiping with several quick strikes, all of which the commander evaded with ease… and his hands still behind his back.

Sice let put a somewhat sadistic laugh. "He's _toying_ with him."

It was true. The commander had made no move to actually fight their classmate. He just kept evading Nine's strikes with an ease that was, frankly, hilarious. Nine tried lunging, and Kurasame cut to the side, tripping him so that he fell face-first into the dirt.

"Are you finished?" Kurasame inquired, lifting one eyebrow slightly. He somehow managed not to make that sound insulting.

Nine growled, springing back to his feet to slice at more empty air.

Sice and Jack were laughing their heads off – apparently one thing the two of them could agree on was that seeing Nine fail epically was amusing. Kurasame may have been older and his body less battle-ready than all of theirs, but he was still the Ice Reaper and had more experience than all of them combined.

Nine swung his staff around for the umpteenth time, and Kurasame finally made an offensive move with an icy blast from his fingertips.

Nine flew through the air with a lengthened scream before face planting once again. His spear fell, and Kurasame snagged it from the air, twisting it to drive the blade into the Arena floor. Nine continued to lie on the ground, unmoving as a groan poured from his mouth.

By this point, Sice was using the wall to keep herself on her feet as she continued laughing. Jack hadn't made it that far and was clutching his side as he sat on the ground. The rest of the group was slightly more composed, but Seven could see that Cater was just about ready to join Jack.

Kurasame strolled towards the Arena doors. "Until class tomorrow, Cadets."

The movement of raven hair in the corner of her eye caught Seven's attention. Machina wasn't laughing with the others. Instead, he was glancing around with a frown.

Wait… where was Rem?

Seven snapped her gaze back over the commander, trying to keep the grin off her face. So… even the girl without a mean bone in her body was tempted by the lure of no homework.

Kurasame pulled open the doors to the arena and was immediately greeted with Rem's daggers flying towards him in boomerang form. The commander shot his hand out, solidly catching the boomerang in front of his face right as a Fire RF followed closely behind. An Ice RF met the Fire head on, blocking any visibility as they exploded.

Seven heard the next attack before she could see it, and given the way the commander's eyes actually widened, she gathered that he did too. The red semicircle glowed vibrantly beneath his feet, the strength growing until–

The commander threw his other hand straight up, and the air rippled, a frosty chill blowing past them all in a gust of wind. The symbol flickered out, and Seven shivered, squinting past Kurasame to find Rem frozen in the pose she took when casting her Seraphim Strike.

Whoa. Whatever he had just cast, it wasn't his usual low-effort magic, which meant he actually considered her attack to be a threat. Out of all of them, _Rem_.

Seven smiled. Good for her. That was the closest any of them were probably going to get.


	8. Day 8

—

 **Ace: II**

 **Deuce: I**

 **Trey:**

 **Cater: II**

 **Cinque: I**

 **Sice: II**

 **Seven: I**

 **Eight: II**

 **Nine:** **IIII** **IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII IIII II**

 **Jack: I**

 **Queen: I**

 **King: I**

 **Machina: I**

 **Rem: I**

The spirits of Class Zero were low the next day. This was the last hour during which they had the chance to free themselves from homework, but not even Nine had launched an attempt. The only member of the class that didn't seem utterly miserable was Trey.

"I truly do not see what it is you are all bemoaning. You knew the chances of your success against the commander in combat were–"

" _Shut up, Trey!_ "

Queen rubbed her temples. Even if they had all failed, she was ready for this mayhem to be over. Give her homework any day. She needed to bring her grades back up from the ninety-eight she'd gotten anyway.

The commander entered the room, giving Rem a nod as he passed her. She perked up, beaming at the small acknowledgement.

"Let's begin." The commander started their lecture at the usual time, and Queen wondered if any of her classmates would be daring enough for a last attempt. Even Nine didn't look up to it this morning as he sat atop his chair with his shoulders slumped.

The first five minutes of class felt like an hour with the morbid atmosphere, and she wasn't the only one checking the clock. Trey's gaze also kept flickering over to it.

Incredible. She _and_ Trey were ready for class to be over. This _had_ to be Tempus Finis.

" _Kurasame!_ " The doors to the classroom burst open and Kazusa tore inside, his lab coat flaring behind him. "You must come see what my research has unveiled! It's astonishing!"

"Kazusa, I am in the middle of a class, in case you failed to notice." A slight frown pulled at Kurasame's brow. "Another time would be more appropriate."

"I know, I know…" Kazusa strolled around the desk, one hand relaxing in his pocket as he neared the commander. "But I promised I'd do this now." He whipped out a small device and pressed a button on the side, sending a hissing cloud of gas into Kurasame's face.

The only sound in the classroom was that of Kurasame's unconscious body hitting the floor with a loud _thud_.

Nine, naturally, was the first to find his voice. "Wha… But…"

Their orderly ran to Kurasame's side, ducking under Moglin to get to him.

"What the actual _heck_ was that?" Cater demanded.

Her answer came in the form of a chuckle echoing across the room. All heads snapped around to face Trey, who calmly rose from his chair. The meaning was clear: this was his doing.

His hit had landed.

"As I was saying when you all chose to ignore me, you must adapt if you wish to succeed against an opponent with a higher level of skill than yourself." Trey moved to the front of the room, handing Kazusa several small, clear bags with hair in them. "The samples you requested."

"Thank you." Kazusa snatched the bags eagerly, moving over to the furthest seat on the first row, where he plopped into the chair and propped his feet on the desk.

So _that_ was why he'd been picking hair off their seats the other day.

"No." Cater shook her head. " _No way_. You did not–"

"I did."

"But… _why?_ " Queen asked. "You love our homework assignments as much as I do." Then it struck her: Trey had finally beaten her at a class assignment.

Trey folded his left arm under his other, gesturing with the right one. "I found something far more enticing than the joy I take in my studies. When one has been wronged, or in this case injured, by another, they sometimes resort to the uncivilized practice of getting back at the one who wronged them. In other words: _revenge._ " His eyes darkened as he glared at Nine. "Now I have succeeded where you have failed so very many times, and you will always remember that."

"Well, not if you died," Kazusa said brightly. "Then the Crystal would wipe his memory of you. But I'm working on that…"

Normally, Nine would have taken that opportunity to say something else snippy, but at the moment, he was shrinking under Trey's glare. Trey didn't glare. Trey didn't get angry at all, he just kept talking in his mild-mannered voice until someone told him to stop. This was… terrifying.

"No deaths in the classroom, kupo!" Moglin objected for the first time. "I won't let the class fall into anarchy while the commander is out, kupo!"

"Oh, do not worry, Hatzkaminei," Trey assured the moogle, actually using part of its real name for some reason. "I am certain we can behave responsibly–"

"That I very much doubt."

Trey jumped a foot back as Kurasame started to rise from the floor.

"Heeeey, that stuff takes hours to wear off on us!" Jack said. "How come you're up so quickly?"

"I've built up a tolerance over the years." Kurasame stood without the slightest wobble, scowling at Kazusa.

"Don't look at me like that!" Kazusa adjusted his glasses and then crossed his arms. "You taught the kid to be resourceful."

"Resourceful? He cheated, yo!"

Oh, Nine. He really didn't know when to shut up. Did he actually think the commander was going to be in the mood for his attitude after being gassed in front of all of them? Never mind that they had the reward they wanted, too.

"Yeah! You didn't say we could hire someone else!" Cater jumped in.

"Well, I don't recall there being a rule that you _couldn't_ ," Kazusa pointed out.

" _Kazusa,_ " Kurasame growled.

"…Yeah, okay, I'm going…" Kazusa tossed a smile at Trey as he swung his legs back to the floor and headed for the doors. "Pleasure doing business with you, kid!"

"Likewise," Trey returned.

"Never mind the science freak!" Nine yelled, jabbing a finger at Trey. "He still cheated!"

That was it. Queen could pinpoint the exact moment when Kurasame's control over his temper snapped: when Nine had insulted one of his closest friends.

"You are correct, Cadet." Kurasame turned to Trey. "At no time did I state that the help of those outside Class Zero could be enlisted. He did not complete the assignment, nor did he fail. However, his ingenuity should not go without note. Therefore, he will receive a more personally preferred commendation. Starting tomorrow, Class Zero will be _awarded_ with double the usual amount of homework."

" _What?_ " Cater shrieked.

"What a load of crap, yo! That's not what–"

" _Shut up,_ Nine," Trey hissed, the scary glare returning.

Nine sat down and snapped his mouth shut.

Trey returned his gaze to the commander, back to his normal self in an instant. "Thank you, commander." He gave a subtle dip of his head. "Should I return to my seat?"

"Yes." Kurasame brought his eyes back to the books on his desk. "Now, if you all would turn to page seventy-eight, we will continue with the lesson."

Double. Homework. Well… that wouldn't be so bad for Trey and herself. She pitied Cinque, but not Nine. Nine had brought this on himself. Actually, she pitied Trey more than Nine, because the rest of the class was going to hate him for a while judging by the glares he was already receiving.

Trey paged through his book. "Before you all lay the blame on my shoulders for your misery, I will remind you who started this entire incident."

Glares moved to Nine, who was sinking into his chair for once.

" _Your books,_ " Kurasame said.

On second thought, forget Nine and Cinque. She pitied the commander for having to deal with her classmates.

The commander got a good twenty seconds of silence before the next interruption.

" _Om nom nom…_ "

Kurasame stopped his lecture once again, sighing as he narrowed his eyes at the source of the absurdly loud crunching. " _Jack._ What's Akademia's policy on food in class?"

Jack glanced up from his granola bar. "'If you've got grub, share the love,' right? Y'know, if you want a bite, you could just ask."

Kurasame stared at him wordlessly, and Queen wondered if another "award" was in order.

Jack held his granola bar out. "Sooo, should I take this menacing silence to mean you want a bite? No?"

Well… things were back to normal, at least.

* * *

 **Well, thank you all for the reviews and favorites! You're awesome! I have another Type-0 story that'll hopefully be up soon, so keep an eye out!**


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